Archived Version: August 19, 2008

Tacoma News Tribune

Endorsements

For state Supreme Court: Johnson and Fairhurst

The News Tribune

Thursday, July 31, 2008 — The state Supreme Court races this
year are largely quiet affairs, for better and worse. Washington
certainly doesn’t need a repeat of the nasty battles for the bench that
marred the 2006 election. But this year, the campaigns have slipped so
far below the radar that voters risk missing what might be their only
opportunity to weigh in.

The new top two primary doesn’t apply to
nonpartisan positions, meaning judicial races
will continue to be decided in the primary if
any candidate gets more than 50 percent of the
vote. That will happen in at least one race, and
probably both.

There are a few reasons for the sleepy campaigns. The ballot is more
crowded this year, and special interest groups that poured money into
the 2006 races have turned their attention elsewhere.

Meanwhile, no challenger has mounted a vigorous campaign – which
probably has as much to do with the sitting justices themselves as the
lack of money for opposition.

Johnson in particular has shown himself a valuable member of the
court. He’s humble enough to admit that he’s come a long way in the 18
years since he was a Gig Harbor solo practitioner who pulled off a
stunning upset of a highly regarded chief justice.

Today, he clearly has the respect of his colleagues, who often turn
to him to write opinions on their behalf in high-profile cases. He’s not
always on the prevailing side, but he is dependably a voice of reason
and common sense.

Of his two opponents, James Beecher and C.F. “Frank” Vulliet, only
Beecher is a serious contender. (Vulliet no longer practices law and is
rated not qualified by the King County Bar Association and the Municipal
League of King County.)

Beecher, a senior partner in a Seattle law firm, does not have a beef
with Johnson but with the court as a whole. He wants to see faster
handling of cases and fewer fractured court decisions. Both are worthy
goals, but Johnson doesn’t appear an impediment to either.

In the other Supreme Court race, Mary Fairhurst has drawn only one
challenger. Michael Bond is a Seattle attorney specializing in
construction cases who says his experience as a trial lawyer and his
libertarian bent make him the better candidate.

Fairhurst may not have logged a lot of courtroom time in her years in
the state attorney general’s office, but she did develop expertise on a
wide variety of issues. She is respected in her profession and has
proved a thoughtful justice who works to move the court to consensus.
Voters should return her to the court.

Also gracing Pierce County voters’ ballots this
year is a single contested race for Superior Court. Tacoma attorney
Michael Hecht is taking a second run at unseating Judge
Sergio Armijo.

Neither candidate responded to our requests for an interview, nor
have they submitted to the local bar association’s rating process.
Armijo did not fare well in a recent survey of Pierce County attorneys
and jurors, but the 14-year veteran remains a better candidate for the
bench than Hecht.

On the Web: A great resource for voters, with links to candidate
bios, news stories, endorsements, campaign finance reports and judicial
ratings, is www.votingforjudges.org.

As the election approaches, Votingforjudges.org will include ratings and endorsements from
numerous organizations. We provide this information so that voters will be
better informed about the candidates. We do not rate or endorse any candidates;
the ratings and endorsements of organizations included at this site reflect the
views of those individual organizations and not necessarily the views of votingforjudges.org or its sponsors.